Pitch doctoring: The loss of a venue’s identity

I agree re NZ winning in Australia. They are a good side and they are resting some of their big guns in preparation for the Australia series Should be a great start to the summer

All this stuff about doctoring pitches is rubbish in my view. England won because they played better and smarter cricket. The pitches were fine. Australia should have batted much better in the 3rd and 4th Tests. Only have themselves to blame Clarke was always moaning when it was not a flat pitch.

The shortness of the tests has had more to do with poor batting technique from both sides than the quality of the pitches. 20 years ago you didn't get a look at being in the Aussie top six without a test average over 40.......now Mitck Marsh with a first class average of around 30 is supposedly the future of Australian cricket. Unless the curators produce roads I think NZ may beat Australia in a couple of months. I think in English conditions they would definitely beat Australia.

Paul, can you point out even one of the dismissals at Trent Bridge in which Australia was dismissed in quicker time than any other team in the history of test cricket, in which the ball behaved unusually? There was a small amount of movement off the seam (I've seen many, many test matches in England with more) and some movement in the air (presumably you're not saying that the 'air' was doctored). Just constantly uttering the phrase 'doctored pitch' like a robot is not going to persuade people unless you can show why being bowled out for 60 was more due to the 'unfair' nature of the pitch than the incompetence of the batting. Your point seems to be that between 11.00 - 12.41 the pitch was an unplayable nightmare, but from 12.41 onwards a flat batsman's dream.

Arthur, with a reply so lengthy, there must be room for at least one thought that isn't delusional.

How do you define a 'good' test match surface? I presume it's one in which the pitch is perfectly suited to Aussie strengths. A bad surface leads to games with low scoring rates; consistently low scores in all four innings; balls taking off and then scuttling across the ground etc etc. None of these factors have been in play. On all the surfaces, scoring rates have been up around or even over 4 per over. In all the games one of the sides has managed to bat very comfortably on the 'doctored surface'. In all four games a win has been achieved. So high scoring rates; 20 wickets taken by the winners; centuries scored; 5-fers achieved; exciting cricket in every game. What precisely would you like from your test cricket? Australia lost because they were arrogant, hubristic, cocky and about half as good as they thought they were. I don't think 'blind Freddie' is the issue. I think fingers in their ears; eyes closed while saying La, La , La, La, La, La, Aussies are best; Aussies are best; Aussies are best, might be the greater problem.

I have written an article on this subject myself. It's a topic that I feel strongly about. But it's a fifty-fifty proposition because it relies on winning the toss to take advantage. On way of stopping home side's doctoring pitches is to give the visiting side the decision to bat or bowl first.

Arthur With a reply so lengthy you should write your own story

This comment belies the truth about the intent of a prepared surface suitable for a first class match. It is clear even to blind Freddie that pitches have been doctored.

Looks like a fairly typical Oval pitch to me. It's going to turn a fair bit by the end. This article was more relevant in 2009 and 2013 when the pitches were obviously changed to accommodate Swan. But then in Australia we produced roads for India last summer that were very different to what England got the summer before. Not to advantage our team, but to bow down to the Indian broadcasters. So glass houses and all that

If you think that Ian Healy, Michael Vaughan, Shane Warne, Mark Nicholas, Beefy, Bumble, Nas and every cricket commentator in the world went out and got plastered last night in London…you would be 1000% right. I would’ve if I could’ve. They are entitled to be giggling their heads off this morning, while downing their Beroccas. For 60 days they have been very quick to explain why Australia have been falling apart in England for 20 years….and then England fall apart. When the Ashes was lost. When , some say, it didn’t matter! When Aussies believe it matters a heap! The ball started talking after Tea. English batsmen said “Stuff this. Johnson’s knocking my block off. I can’t lay a bat on Marsh or Siddle or Lyon and they keep hitting me on the pinkies and head off a good length. We’re going down like nine pins…I’m outta her!” The cricket world could scarcely believe their eyes in the session after tea at the Oval on Day 2. The Oval crowd packed up and went home, warm and snugly in the knowledge that this Test was gone, but that the Ashes was safe. For now! 3 Day Test here we come!!!!! Michael Clarke…you’rre a genius! Another holiday for 30 of the world’s best cricketers in English conditions. Let’s paint the town red and get on the drink….quick! Before we wake up! Are Mitch Marsh and Peter Siddle… rejected, ridiculed, in and out of the team…the disciples of Merlin, Harry Potter reincarnate, or masters of Black Magic or Gods of Cricket? Are Rod Marsh and Darren Lehmann able to bend spoons at 20 paces like Uri Geller? Or can they select anyone and see them succeed……or are they just lucky??? Or unlucky, depending on how you look at it??? Let’s face it. What happened at The Oval as England lost 8/108 in 140 minutes was the exception for Australia , not the rule. But it was joyous for Aussie cricket because it redeemed and reinforced everything Aussie cricket stands for in our minds. We can actually play cricket in England when we get a fair shake of the weather, toss etc. • Lords and the Oval are in London. The weather was dry and sunny for most of yesterday and all of the Lords’ Test. The wicket was rolled after Australia “brilliantly” struggled to 481. Rogers, Warner, Voges, Starc and Smith were gutsy and great…and lucky at times. No denying their guts though! • England had been in the field for 5 sessions at the end of 5 mentally debilitating Tests and had won the Ashes. • Australia felt that the Tests at Edgbaston and Trent Bridge made them look very bad, when the coin toss and the luck of batting first, when bowling first was mandatory, denied them the opportunity of attacking England in perfect bowling conditions. 60 and 136 will forever stick in my mind. Pure Luck!!!!!! All of it bad!!!! • Australia’s brains’ trust picked 4 bowlers at Trent Bridge? Hello? Is that the move of 2 genius’? Hardly! • So Australia lost Haddin, Harris, Watson, Shaun Marsh, Mike Clarke, in their heads, then had conniptions of kinds which shot them in the foot…and left Australia in the lurch. It was like a revolving door at Heathrow. • Mitch Johnson was said to have failed again in English conditions. Mitch Starc was said to be all over the shop. Josh Hazelwood was suddenly a failure. Pat Cummins was “unpickable”. Mitch Marsh couldn’t hit a ball with a bat as big as a barn. Steve Smith could only bat at Lords and the Oval. Dave Warner didn’t find his box of bats until Trent Bridge. Adam Voges was the flop of flops. Australia was a technically flawed and failed bunch of no-hopers. And in 140 minutes last night, all that was seen to be what we hoped it was…..a bunch of unmitigated crap! You go to England with hope…..and you get kicked in the head and rolled for all your money by the Gods of Clouds, the Gods of swing and seam, the Gods of the Toss and 5 very good English seamers! So if you think that Rod Marsh, Darren Lehmann, Mike Di Venuto and Craig McDermott are off the hook with the Australian public…you are certifiable! They have presided over a relative disaster. There is no system in the teams they have picked for the West Indies and England which looked after youth as well as experience. There was just some old guys on the last leg of their careers getting another Tour for sentimental reasons and in the hope that they would succeed. Cardiff told them they were in a heap of trouble, if the next 4 wickets and conditions played havoc, because our batters could barely get the ball off the square at Cardiff. Clarke and Harris had been badly injured and mentally affected by Phil Hughes’ passing. Watson was, is a shell. Haddin had family problems. Shaun Marsh got 2 innings on a green top under clouds of doom. Marsh and Lehmann never really ever invested in youth, other than Mitch Marsh. Pete Nevill was like 2-3 other wicketkeeping tyros back in Oz. Josh Hazelwood, Mitch Starc, Mitch Johnson and Nathan Lyon were, are heroic. Not for yesterday, for the whole series. They are salt of the earth. Mitch Marsh and Pete Siddle have my admiration for what they did in the Perfect Storm yesterday. Pete Nevill had not even figured in the series until Brad Haddin failed at Cardiff with the bat. He has been very good and will get better. Fawad Ahmed must think he is the 15th man on every tour. Pat Cummins must think he has leprosy. Shaun Marsh could be forgiven for spending the next 6 months on a shrink’s couch somewhere. Mitch Marsh wants to take a London Phone Book and tear it to shreds to show his manliness…when he just needs to learn the art of batting in England…and everywhere else. Ohh…and to complete the lunacy, Wally Edwards and Rod Marsh, the WA Connection, have taken up cigar smoking and brandy drinking for the rest of their cricketing lives. I think I’ll join them! Footnote. If the ICC wants to bring some sanity to Tests in England or anywhere for visiting teams who are rarely if ever winning away from home, then it will dispense with Coin Tosses, allow the Home Team to chose whether to bat or bowl in tests 1-3-5, and allow the Visitors to chose in the 2-4 Tests. Apply it all over the world. And bring some certainty to the world of cricket. ARTHUR PAGONIS MANAGING DIRECTOR AUSTRALIA GLOBAL TRADING PTY LTD 10 HERTZ WAY, MORLEY, W.A. 6062 AUSTRALIA PH. 61.8.9377 3833, FAX 61.8.93773877, MOBILE 61. 409918874 SKYPE: apagonis2 WEB: www.ausglobaltrading.com

Both Lords and Cariff were an absolute joke, Birdy.

The big problem with pitch doctoring is that it is actually a crutch to your own players. You need the challenge of playing on different surfaces against competitive opposition to improve your own skill level. There is no surprise that countries that play on varied wickets have more success. If anything Australia has lost that advantage with the drop in roads now provided at many grounds. Ultimately though a good test match pitch is one that provides an opportunity for both sides to win independent of the toss. In this series Cardiff, Edgbaston, and the oval have been fair pitches, with lords and trent bridges not up to scratch. Obviously that shows that the outcome of the series was not decided by the toss. Haddin's drop of root and giving away our wickets in Cardiff in the only competitive game is ultimately what cost us our chance at the ashes. Well played england

The batting has been fairly stinking from both sides.

Agree it's been the batting rather than the pitches that have been poor. Can't remember too many balls misbehaving or variable bounce. It seems batsmen from both Australia and to a lesser extent England have completely lost the ability to survive decent bowling spells when conditions offer any assistance for the bowlers. Re DOAG I would've liked to see Ireland and Scotland involved in the coming ODI series but they will continue to receive zero fixtures against the full members whilst the big 3 holds sway.

Lords is often a road. Trent Bridge is one of the more bowler friendly wickets on the County Circuit. The Oval is usually batting friendly, and Cardiff is a pudding. I just can't see that so much pitch-doctoring has gone on. I like green tops, I wish there was more Day 1 pitches like Trent Bridge. If anything, the doctoring was going on in 2013 more than this series.

There has been nothing wrong with any of the pitches in this Ashes series. Poor pitches lead to low scores in all four innings. That hasn't happened in this series. The constant harping on about doctored pitches is making the Aussie media look pathetic.